The European Commission publishes its release of the Water Resilience Strategy (WRS)
On June 4 2025, the European Commission publishes its release of the Water Resilience Strategy (WRS). The Strategy acknowledges EU Member States’ freedom to organize their water supply systems within EU laws, while also offering a political compass and framework for the European Commission to update EU Water Policies and support Member States’ initiatives and cross-border water cooperation for the next 5 years.
The WRS outlines three core objectives:
- Restore and protect the water cycle
- Build a water-smart economy
- Ensure clean and affordable water for all.
The Water Resilience Strategy covers several key areas, such as:
- ‘Water Efficiency First’ Principle: the EU will promote reducing water demand before expanding supply, with potential stronger support for drip irrigation, precision farming and soil health practices. The European Commission also published a specific recommendationfocusing on means to prioritise water efficiency across the EU;
- Water reuse: the strategy aims to enhance safe water reuse in agriculture and expand this beyond agriculture, via a review and potential expansion of the Water Reuse Regulation’s scope.
- Funding & innovation: a series of initiatives such as a ‘Water Resilience Investment Accelerator’ and a ‘Water Smart Industrial Alliance’ will be set up to support innovation and skills development.
- Digital tools: the EU will, among other initiatives, introduce an EU-wide Action Plan on digitalisation in the water sector.
EIA will issue a reactive statement to the Water Resilience Strategy.
For more information, you must join the EIA as member :